Stoplight Colored
by I-had-a-Sandwich-in-my-Head
Summary: Mari Anders daughter of Starfire has gone her entire life without a dad.She goes on a trip to meet her dad only to find that he's engaged.Will she be able to cope with it and how will her mom take it?i screwed up the 4thch pls go back & read it R&R ch9up!
1. My Decision

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics. But I own this story! (MWAH HA HA HA) **awkward **

**But I own Herbert.**

**Special Thanks to:** Carley for helping decide what to work with within the story plot!!

I went from 1st person to 3rd after the third paragraph.

I'm also adding Beast Boy's and Raven's kids, even though I don't know if they have any specific names.

This story kinda follows the idea of **What A Girl Wants,** but I changed some scenes. So please don't pound me!!

These are:

'_Thoughts'_

Emphasis

**Stoplight Colored**

Chapter 1: My Decision

My name is Mari Anders, I'm 18 years old, and I live on 141 China Street. It's always just been me and Kori (she never liked me calling her that, she wanted something more traditional like **MOM**.) Well, we've always lived right next to the Wangs; they're like family to us. We celebrated everything together, birthdays, Christmases, New Years, National Eggnog Day (yeah I know weird right?), heck you name it. My entire, little life has been going on without a **DAD**. Mom told me the story between the two; it happened waaaaay before I was born.

"Hey, Kori…err…um…Mom, can you tell me the story about you and Dad again?" Mari called from the couch in the living room. The look on Kori's face clearly showed that she wasn't too happy with her daughter calling her by her first name, but came over anyways and patted her daughter on the head as she took a seat beside her.

"Okay, let's see… a while back ago before you were born…"

There was a team called the Teen Titans. They were 5 of the greatest heroes to ever live in Jump City, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire. Robin and Starfire were a sweet couple even though no one knew about their relationship together. The two were extremely close and he decided to take her to meet his family on there R&R (rest and relaxation) came for them to take off, she left even though it pained her to go and leave her Robin behind. Later on, about 9 months later, the young girl was blessed with a little girl of her own. And her name was Mari Anders.

"Hey, Mari?"

"Yeah, Kori?" Mari perked up a bit at her mom's voice, even though Kori winced a bit at the sound of her name.

"Follow me." And with that Kori was out the door heading for her room a couple doors down. As Mari entered the exaggerated purple room, she saw her mom sticking out from underneath her bed. Her face began to furrow in confusion when Kori came out with a brown cardboard box. Surprisingly it wasn't purple, like everything else in the room and practically half of the house. If it wasn't for her the entire house would be drenched and drowned in the color. Her mom sat on the bed with the box on her lap, and patted the spot beside her, signifying for her to take a seat. Kori slowly opened the box revealing a Teddy Bear dressed in a cute little, stoplight colored suit and mask, along with some pictures of the Teen Titans team.

"Here," Kori said as she took out the cutely dressed Teddy Bear, and handed it to her. "It's just something he gave to me when we were together, I want you to have it."

"Ko-ri" Mari's voice cracked a bit as she held the Bear close to her. She threw herself at her mom and gave her literally a bone-crushing hug. Being part alien with super strength isn't easy to live with since you could easily hurt or destroy anything if you wanted to. "Thanks, it means a lot to me that you would trust me with something that means so much to you. Well, I got to go. I have to be at **Riko's** (it's a made up store that she works at), there's a major sale going on and the boss is going to drown in there without me." With a final hug to her mom she took her Bear into her room and set down the special gift gently on her bed, and took off immediately to help her helpless boss with some little girls.

-At Riko's-

"Mari!! You're finally here! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" her boss looked as if he was going to run up to her, push through all of the little girls, and shower her feet with kisses. She always wondered why he started a little girl store if he couldn't handle it. Mari pushed through all of the little girls and parents trying to pay for what their daughters begged, pleaded, and had a fit over for. She sighed as she opened the register; Kori's story was hitting a nerve. Sure she heard it like a gazillion times, but for some weird reason it made a bigger impression than the other bazillion times she heard it. Of course she'd seen pictures of her supposed Dad before, but that was almost 20 years ago, back when they were around her age. Back then her parents were supposedly love-struck teens. Great… Shaking her head a bit to get the image out of her head, and began to ring up the many nonsensical items that the little girls had chosen.

**- Around the end of the Sale-**

Mari watched the last customer she rung up leave the store. She let out an aggravated sigh. Whenever her boss had these sales, she was always worn out from the constant screaming and rushing of all of the parents. All of sudden Mari felt like she was going to fly across the room as she felt a sharp slap hit her back. The green-eyed girl turned around to find her boss who was trying to give her a pat on the back, but it was more like a torpedo just rammed into her. "Thanks, for helping out Mari," her boss gratefully said, "I'll see you next week." And the stout little man turned on his heel and was out the door in an instant. _'Of course I helped out, if I didn't I wouldn't get paid.' _Mari couldn't help but think it.

A piercing thank you was thrown out randomly from a young girl to her father who Mari seemed to miss. She couldn't help but stare at the two as the little girl hugged her father. And right on cue, that pang came back. The pang that came from the story of her dad. The dad who doesn't even know that she exists! Dragging her feet along, the ebony haired girl trudged the long way back home.

**-Walk Home-**

The fact that she didn't have a dad to grow up with was really hitting her hard. '_Like it's bad enough when they don't even know you exist.' _And now she had to think about college, she knew Kori was going to support her, but that's only one person. There was a feeling of a big, empty gap inside of her, that gap being the place where her supposed dad would be. '_That's it; Kori's put this off for too long. She may be trying to protect me, but I think it's time to meet my dad.'_

-At Home- (Dun Dun Dun dramatic pause)

"Hey Kori?" Mari yelled throughout the one level apartment as she slammed the door shut trying to get her attention, causing an aftershock on the entire building. And in an instant Kori came out in a run screaming, "EARTHQUAKE!!" as she began to scope out the area.

"Um, I just wanted to… um, talk…" a surprised Mari dryly stated as she headed into the oh, so surprising lavender living room. "I really need to tell you something," she said emphasizing her last statement. A look of concern crossed her mother's face as she stared intently into her daughter's own. The emerald-eyed beauty turned the corner; slowly Mari followed into the (LAVENDER) living room, and plunged into a humongous deep purple beanbag chair (YES!!). Kori followed doing the same. For a moment there was an awkward silence overcoming them.

Mari lifted her head and released what was wrenching her heart from within her. "I'm going to see my father." And with that statement Kori looked like she was about to protest. The look she gave her showed that she would jump up from the gigantic, deep, squishy, PURPLE beanbag chair and throw banners screaming out protest to the idea. Her mom's face though began to show understanding, and she finally let out a sigh of obvious defeat. There was nothing she could probably attempt to keep her away from Richard.

"Okay," was all that Kori said. Mari's eyes lit up at her mom's response. Her mom began to get up from the very PURPLE beanbag chair to hug her daughter, but gave up when she constantly fell back into it from trying to get up. Instead, Mari leaned down to give her a big, bear hug, avoiding getting sucked into the trap of the PURPLE beanbag. Being so thrilled about the fact that she was going to finally meet her dad, she flew up happily into the air and straight to her room to pack for her journey.

Mari began to throw clothes from her drawers, closet, and floor into a midnight blue, medium sized sack. (By sack I mean the type of bag that you pull strings from on the top to close it) After stuffing in practically her entire room into the sack, she scanned her now bare floor for her birth certificate and the pictures of the former Titans to add to her collection of already densely packed clothes. It really shocked her that she had hard wood floors underneath all of her junk. Mari took one last look around her room to see if she missed anything, when her eyes fell upon the cute, little Teddy Bear dressed like Robin with his little version of a mask and stoplight colored suit. Picking him up, the ebony haired girl placed a light kiss on the top of its head and gently placed it in her sack. Quickly swinging her sack onto her back, she said her goodbyes and left the apartment.

With great skill, Mari whistled loud enough to make a couple taxis stop for her. Randomly picking the closest one, she hopped into the backseat of the cab. "I'm going to 918 Starlight Lane in Jump City," she nodded to the driver as she settled into the seat for the long awaited drive. "Are you sure miss? It's a long drive all the way from Steel City," he asked as he turned around to look at her. Mari dug around into the front pocket of her midnight blue sack and pulled out a wad of cash that she saved up from her job at Riko's. The driver didn't really need a reason after he saw that mullah come out; he simply just punched the gas and drove off leaving a big cloud of smoke trailing behind it.

-Jump City-

Mari woke up in haze and realized where she was. She picked up her head and looked out the window to see them pulling up to a large mansion. Pulling out a large amount of money, she jumped out of the cab before it came to a complete stop, and shoved the cash into the open window of the taxi as she slammed the door shut, almost successfully tearing off the whole back of the taxi. Turning around, she felt pretty insignificant compared to the enormous mansion. Mari walked right up to the gate, where a guard in a black suit stood.

"May I help you?" the guard asked, obviously inquiring why she was there. Mari glanced at the mansion through the bars, and then looked back at the guard.

"Actually, no Herbert," she replied as she glanced at the tiny, gold nameplate and began to walk away. Out of Herbert's sight she threw her bag over the wall with much accuracy, and started lifting up into the air. Flying over the wall wasn't that hard, but she lost control and landed on her bum. She wasn't too talented with her so-called 'gift' that she inherited. "Hey! Who are you?" a voice shouted out from a good distance. Mari slowly turned around and got up to see a young girl about her age, but probably a little younger. The girl's violet hair began to blow in the wind, "Hey! Answer me!" Out of no possible control, Mari lost it and accidentally threw a starbolt at the strange, mysterious girl. The violet haired girl waved her hand across her face, and a black aura appeared blocking the starbolt. "So that's how you want to play, huh?" the girl responded as she ripped out one of the four pillars holding up the mansion. The pillar was thrown at Mari with great force. She let out a grunt as it hit her and smashed her against the brick wall keeping people out. With ease, Mari pushed the great, long pillar away from her and tossed it. She stared at her cautiously, waiting for her to attack. But just her luck, the girl had taken the chance to trap her in an aurora of black energy, taking her captive.

-Mansion's Dining Room-

The day had gone by quite normally, as usual. Alfred was setting a different variety of food all around the long, black cherry wood table. Raven eyed the food with a hungry expression and looked up to see Garfield (Beast Boy) stuffing his face full of tofu. _'Just like back in Titans Tower'_ Raven couldn't help but think when she saw the sight of him with tofu eggs hanging out of his mouth.

After the Titans disbanded, Raven and Beastboy got closer together and eventually tied the knot. Over time they had two children, Rose and Trent. Trent being 19, got the hair of his father and his mother's eyes. While Rose who's 17, had the complete opposite qualities of her brother. Each one luckily avoided the green skin fiasco that their father had to suffer through. All of them had been invited to the wedding of Richard Grayson (Robin) and Barbara Gordon. Raven wasn't that thrilled that she had to wear a dress, but why not? She wore one on her day, why not on his? Losing interest in her breakfast, Raven looked out the window and saw one of the pillars being ripped out of ground surrounded in a black aura. Raven immediately ran outside, she was pretty sure she wasn't doing it. The large pillar was being thrown at a girl who was now slammed against the wall. "Rose!" she cried out after seeing what her daughter was doing, but it was clear she didn't hear or see her come out. Surprisingly the girl was able to push the pillar off and threw it randomly away. Raven took the chance and chanted her famous mantra encasing her daughter and the girl, who Rose almost could've killed, in a black aura.

Mari began to throw her light green starbolts against the black aura, giving up she looked at the girl attacking her and noticed she was having the same problem. A woman came out with her hands surrounded in black energy, her long violet hair blowing in the hard blowing wind. "Richard! Gar! We have a visitor!" she called out as she dragged the two behind her through the door she recently just came out of. Mari recognized her as an older version of her mom's best friend Raven based off of Kori's descriptions. _'Great… I'm being busted by Kori's best friend.'_ All eyes followed her as Raven dropped the two onto some chairs. It was pretty obvious that they expected this from Rose, but they had no possible clue who she was. Her gaze drifted across the room and it fell on an older Beast Boy and Robin. _'Oh CRAP THIS IS REALLY BAD!!'_ She felt her heart sinking into the deepest, darkest pit of her stomach.

"uh… hi?" she questionably asked as she saw the many jumbled looks on their faces.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?" a slightly shocked and upset Richard stated, "Are you with the press or something? Why can't you guys ever leave us alone?" Richard burst out of nowhere. A confused look formed on her face as she processed the words he was saying. It hurt to hear her father yell at her like that, but then again he didn't know her so it didn't' leave as big as a scalding. "Answer me! If you want a picture of us or something go right ahead." A frustrated look crossed his face, as he waited for her to respond. Out of nowhere Barbara came running into the dining hall with an exasperated look on her face.

"ONE OF THE PILLARS FROM OUR HOUSE JUST CRUSHED MY CAR FLAT!!" screamed Babs as she went on ranting about how she'll find the culprit. "Wait… who's this girl?" Barbara asked freezing in place when she finally noticed that no one was really listening, just staring at her. All eyes transferred from the ranting fiancée to the strange, ebony haired girl. "Well, who are you?" she impatiently asked while tapping her foot like that rabbit in Alice in Wonderland.

"I-I'm um… Mari An-Anders," she hoarsely responded, while shifting her gaze to the floor as if she was taking sudden interest in it. "My mom's Kori Anders." It was a random addition, but she felt that for some reason she needed to say it. Just then Raven's face furrowed from confusion and showed her slight recognition of the name.

"Why are you here?" a kinder voice spoke up. Mari looked up to see Richard looking at her. Richard stared intently into those emerald green eyes and caught something extremely familiar in them.

Gaining the courage, Mari spoke. "To see my father," she finally blurted out and let out a huge breath that she didn't even know she was holding, returning to staring at the floor.

"So where is he?" Garfield (Beast Boy) piped up after being unusually quiet. The changeling seemed to be interested in what she had to say. He seriously matured over the years, but not enough to take away the funny monkey in him.

"oh, um… well you see…" Mari grasped at what she just muttered out. How could she put what she was thinking in words? Letting out a deep sigh, the emerald-eyed girl lifted her head slightly, but not so much so that they could see her eyes. The quiet was torture for her, there was no way she was going to be able to pull this off.

A half-man/ robot came bursting in the room, like he had news to tell them all. His out off breath tone clearly showed. "Yo, did you guys see what happened to Babs' car?" He asked trying to regain his composure, but his comment didn't get the response he obviously wanted. "What I miss?" he added as he came in from the doorway. Cyborg's gaze fell onto the young girl in the chair who looked as if she'd just been shocked by lightning. The girl face was so pale that it seemed Richard was interrogating the poor child. "What'd you to this kid? Don't worry… erm… what's your name?" he said as he kneeled down next to her chair on one knee, while leaning on it.

"Ma-Mari" the girl replied trying to hide her shaky voice from everyone around her. Everyone was surrounding her and it seemed like everyone had it out for her by now, with a few exceptions.

"- well don't worry about him, he's just a little hung up since he's getting married in, like, 6 months. So just chill, alright little lady?" Cyborg said trying to reassure her that everything was going to be fine. _' Married? This is not good…' _Mari gave him a warm smile showing that she understood. "Do you know what's weird? My mom told me you used to call her that, way back before I was born," she calmly told him when she heard the nickname he gave her.

Raven took this chance to squeeze in her question before the girl was drowned in everyone else's. "And who's your mom again?" Raven asked monotonously with a straight face. Her interest and determination to find out why it was so familiar was getting the better of her. The empath saw all eyes on her except Richard's who had his old leader face plastered on him. It was determined and intimidating to most who would suffer enough to actually see it.

"Her name's Kori Anders," she answered back with a stalling look in her eyes. But everyone seemed to be dumbfounded by the name as if they'd never heard of it. "Well, you might know her as… um… what was it? Hey, what's the name of the street we're on?"

"Starlight Lane," Raven answered, obviously becoming impatient with the girl.

The ebony haired girl showed recognition after hearing the street's name. "Oh yeah, you probably know her as Starfire, since most of you are former Titans right?" Starfire?

Garfield eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of his head, "Whoa, DUDE! So you're telling me that Star's your mom," he added a little uncertainly, "and you're her daughter, whose here to see her… dad, who is where again?" Raven's shock didn't diminish, especially since Gar was able to keep up with what was going on. That was a major shocker to almost everyone, even though Raven had been married to him for almost 20 years now. But nonetheless the shock was immense. The confidence Mari was trying to build plummeted all the way when he asked her, she was really hoping that she would be able to avoid the question for much longer than this.

"My father? Well, he's… um… he's…" she was cut short by Barbara's sudden outburst. "Well spit it out! I don't got all day!" Mari sunk down to the deepest part of her chair, but the outburst didn't surprise her though. Especially since Barbara's car just got smashed by the pillar Mari, not particularly aiming, threw. She picked up her head and tried to look Barbara right in the eye and said, "Fine, you want to know? Then why don't you say hi to him, he's right next to you!"


	2. Big Mistake

Stoplight Colored

I know it's been a long time, and i haven't really responded to anyone...but...it's finally here!! CHAPTER 2 Please Review it make me happy

COME TO THE DARK SIDE, WE HAVE COOKIES (MUAH HA HA HA) AND THERE CHEESE FLAVORED!! (DOUBLE MUAH HA HA HA)

**Stoplight Colored**

**Chapter 2: Big Mistake**

Mari's face looked flushed after yelling out the answer that she was so dreading to say. An awkward silence took over the entire room, one that was seriously grinding into her head. All eyes went back and forth between Richard and Mari. Mari's face turned as bright red as a candied apple from all of the attention directed towards her, especially since she just practically screamed out that Richard is her supposed Dad. The entire room went silent. Richard looked like he was about to faint. At first it turned a deep, darkening red, then a pale ghostly white.

Unlike Richard, Garfield ran up to her started shaking her hand rapidly and said, "Welcome to the family, I'm Garfield, obviously. And that's Rae, Rose, and Trent," he mentioned as he pointed at each one of them with his tofu-egg encrusted hand with an enormous grin on his, surprisingly not broken, face. Rae, on the other hand, looked awestruck with Mari's comment. Raven thought, '_How is that possible, Dick harboring a child?'_ Cyborg soon joined the former green titan in greeting the **Little Lady**. But when he shook her hand, she held it firmly this time, ready for another approach, attack. Mari shook his hand firmly, and Cyborg's was no match for her. He was flung up and down, with his insides, mechanics, rattling. Mari suddenly stopped and Cyborg was vibrating rapidly throughout his systems. "Um…real sorry about that, I don't really understand the power trait thing as of now and other incidents that I rather not mention right now."

All was seeming like a very awkward, and slightly violent, moment. Then Babs (HATE HER) broke the greeting with another outburst, similar to the one about her porsha. "So you obviously assume that this girl is my Richard's daughter, even after she attacked one of us and intruded on my…um…I mean my soon to be property," Garfield and Cyborg looked at each other and back at Babs (still hate her) and back to each other and simply stated, "Yeah, pretty much…" Babs looked infuriated, "How can you trust this girl, she comes with NO proof or evidence and you trust her based on her word?" And with her now 3rd outburst, she received the same answer from the two.

Mari suddenly remembered her sack that she had dropped when Rose attacked her. "If I can interrupt? I have my birth certificate in my sack outside." Babs immediately stomped out of the dining hall to grab her sack and search it for proof. When Babs got around halfway to the sack, Mari mentioned in a small voice, " By the way, I don't think she can lift it. I kinda packed almost everything I own. And I'm not being sarcastic all that was left was my desk, bed, closet, and my gigantic, PURPLE beanbag chair, or did I shove that in there too?" Everyone, except Richard because he's still frozen in shock, gave her a weird confused look. Then another outburst reached their poor, almost deaf ears. "Someone help me lift this 1,000 ton bag!!" Garfield relentlessly walked out there to help her, and soon both were pulling hard on the tiny sack. And even with the help of Cyborg, the puny sack wouldn't budge. Finally Mari trudged out onto the plain of a backyard, and grabbed a part of the somewhat **HEAVY** object, and started walking back to the mansion with the three being dragged behind her without a bit of facial expression. Reaching the center of the room, Mari plopped the bag in front of her along with the weight of 3 grown men and a freaky, tempered lady. But the weight of these oddly constructed people tore open the small sack, and a rumbling began to shake the room. And strangely though it wasn't enough to break Richard of his trance. Clothes, pictures, documents, and a stuffed animal erupted from her bag and it began to rain the contents of her sack. Everyone was buried in her junk, even the entranced Richard. Babs somehow avoided the catastrophe and watched her company be dragged to the depths of the explosion. And out of nowhere, the _little_ sack began to vibrate again. A gigantic **PURPLE** beanbag chair busted out of the sack and pulverized Babs in one single crushing moment. Babs (I know I forgot to put that I hate her, but I still do) was still conscious, but the tin man found a way free and physically knocked her unconscious.

The pictures thrown out of her used to whole sack, mostly landed right in front of Richard. One specific picture of him as a teen without his mask landed on his face, and surprisingly shocked him out of his trance. He couldn't even remember any time he'd taken off his mask as a teen. Richard slowly peeled the picture off of his eyes and stared at it for a single silent moment. '_No one's ever caught me on film without my mask,' _he thought as his brow furrowed, then something hit him (no, not literally), '_except Star…he hadn't thought about Star in over 18 years.'_


	3. Toast isn't always Crunchy and Brown

Stoplight Colored

**Stoplight Colored**

**Chapter 3: Toast isn't always Crunchy and Brown**

The commotion around Dick continued as he stared at that single picture. Besides the calls of panic and the falling contents of this mysterious young girl, all was quiet in his mind. The supposedly non-existent picture was before him; his deep and powerful thoughts were interrupted when Alfred announced some news. "Master Dick," Alfred couldn't help but use Richard's childhood nickname, "you have another guest. Shall I escort him in?" he said in a very British monotone accent. Just then a very distinguishable voice came out from the hallway, getting louder as the figure approached. "Alfred, you've known me my entire life, stop with show already and let me see him." (SUSPENSE) Dick look horrified and stared at the figure's shadow in the middle of the hallway as it approached.

And **BRUCE WAYNE** was soon seen standing in the middle of the doorway. But didn't seem to be amused by the scrambling of everyone on the floor like fish flopping around, except Garfield who was confused and literally turned into a fish. (Don't worry he's not a fish for long, and he'll breathe eventually he WON"T die) "Robin, have you learned nothing?" Dick looked terrified to see his adoptive father before him, and all was silent, except for Garfield's confusion, until Mari "accidentally" blurted out, "What the HECK is going on in this bizzaro world of mine?" Bruce glanced at the girl for a second, "What did Starfire do to her hair?" he calmly stated in confusion, not similar at all to Garfield's.

"Um… I'm Mari… I think your talking about my mom… but I'm actually not entirely sure, and that's a first for me," she explained from her position on the floor. Bruce gave Dick another glance, and Dick was banging his head on the wall saying, "crap, crap, crap…" repeatedly. " Can someone please explain to me what's going on?" Cyborg began to squirm trying to get off of Babs' head, and slapped Garfield across the head, snapping him out of his fishy confusion. So the former green titan jumped up and exclaimed really loud and quickly, "So… it's like this. This girl Mari showed up to see her dad, who might happen to be your adopted son, and her mom is Star. And then there was an explosion and falling junk, and Babs is suffering from a pulverization of a beanbag chair and Cy over there," BB (I'm tired of putting Garfield it's so annoying) let out with a huge gulp of air. Alfred cut in saying, "Should I get the first aid kit, or the security guard sir? Either way, we might need an ambulance for Master Dick and Miss Barbara's concussions," he added noting that Dick had fallen to the floor unconscious.

"Hold on Alfred," Bruce indicated with his hand as he kneeled down next to the girl, "well Mari, this is kind of unexpected, but welcome to the family." Mari let out a sigh of relief as she heard his accepting tone within his voice. Cyborg jumped up from behind her giving Mari a bone-crushing hug, even for her. When Cy finally let go of her, a gasp of air came through her mouth as the sweet precious air filled her lungs. Cyborg gently put her down on the ground to make up for almost breaking her bones. "If we're all done greeting this young lady, can we please take her to a room for now?" Alfred quickly took his que and signaled for Mari to follow him to suitable enough room. Mari looked at the remains of her knapsack and tried to grab as much in her arms as possible, when everything glowed with a black aura. Rose was focusing her telekinesis on the pile, "This will probably go faster than what you're attempting to turn into another array of medical incidents," her monotone voice stated. Mari looked at the girl, knowing that this was probably her way of apologizing and making up for it, with slight help and obnoxious comments.

The hallway was very regal looking based on the portraits, tapestries, and sculptures along the walls. The displays of the items were aligned in such a fashion that a pattern was created within it. The pattern continued for several more corridors and up several flights of steps, to grand, carpeted staircases until Alfred stopped in front of a room with a single bronze plate on the wall beside the door. The plate simply stated, _The Lavender room._ Mari's eyes bugged out, her thoughts screaming in terror, _ANYTHING BUT PURPLE, PLEASE!! _And sure enough, not to disappoint, everything ceiling to floor was a sickening shade of purple. Mari gave Alfred a light tap to his shoulder; " Um…can I have a room with something that's not so purple? Please?" she couldn't help but throw in an extra puppy dog pout in with the begging. Alfred sure enough, nodded and led her to the next room. Surprisingly it wasn't named after a color; it was engraved, _Angels' Haven. _The double doors opened widely into the room with grace, and behold, it wasn't even the slightest purple. The colors were of different varieties and shades of beige, forest green, teal, and brown. The warmness of the room led her in step with her heartbeat and the high-decorated ceiling brought the feel of being outdoors, like a tree canopy above. The feel of the darkened, furnished bed frame, wardrobe closet, and windows gave her a sense of being home in Jump city in the middle of the park. She gave a beaming smile at the butler, "You know, I could just hug you right now Alfred!" she exclaimed after examining the earth tone room. "Miss Mari, I'm British we hardly show affection…" he simply stated in a tone similar to Rose's. But Mari could've sworn she saw a light snicker from the old butler as he turned away.

Mari felt so overwhelmed that she flew up in the air and accidentally threw herself onto the striped earth tone bed. _'At least I landed on the bed.'_ She thought entirely relieved that she didn't end up through a wall **again.** She stared at the roof of the drapery surrounding her bed. This could've gone better she thought, as she just noticed a disastrous pile of clothes appearing in the middle of what could be a ballroom floor. Recapping over the day, Mari felt like a 5-ton load was lifted from her shoulders as she realized she had finally met her dad. Sure he was kind of slow, really slow in piecing the pieces together. But sure they're blood related, can't really change that. Mari Anders closed her eyes, enveloping into the darkness, and finally rested from a long day of tofu, explosions, concussions, and Babs' outbursts.

**I'm sorry this took longer than it should this was one of my more difficult chapters to write for me. It was more serious than I thought I'd make it. But all stories go through this block. I'm working soon with Chapter 4 this morning I can't really sleep. So yeah I'm here writing this chapter for you guys and I still can't sleep. BLAH DE BLAH DE BLEH So now I must write Chapter 4. I won't be surprised if that is posted in the next 3 hours. It's 12:51 AM if anyone wants to try to keep up… If your awake… if your not…oh well…you're probably not even reading this…your LOSS…**


	4. Richard? Who do you love?

**Stoplight Colored**

**Chapter 4: Richard? Who do you love?**

Richard's head was pounding as he regained consciousness from his concussion. "Well, good morning Master Dick. Good to see you're awake. How are you feeling?" Alfred said as he walked into the room with a tray of waffles and scrambled eggs. Dick took the tray from Alfred and began to shove the syrup-drowned waffles into his mouth, but stopped briefly when the pounding returned. "Have I been asleep all morning, Alfred?" Dick asked holding his head, and examining the stitches he found with the tips of his fingers. "You've been unconscious for about a day, Master Dick," explained Alfred as he left. Richard lay down on the small cot for the infirmary and closed his eyes. He wasn't really shocked that he had received a concussion in result of banging his head constantly on the wall. But what was really on his mind was the fiery red head girl he had met as a teenager. Why hadn't she called him about this? Why did her daughter just appear out of thin air? And why did she just disappear and not come to see him after all of these years? Just then he remembered how beautiful he thought she was and the first time they kissed. The silence was almost even enjoyable, but out of nowhere the doors of the infirmary flew open.

Babs was running through the doorway lunging at him screaming, "Richard, my darling! OH MY GOD!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY POOR SWEETUMS?!" Although Babs had burst through into the room, Dick was in such a trance thinking about Starfire or the now known Kori that he didn't even see or hear her come in. And no matter how much she screamed and wailed her concern and pet names for him, Richard didn't give her a single glance. Then he remembered the picture that had caused him to enter into one of his now more frequent trances. Richard reached into his pocket, and sure enough the folded picture that was supposedly impossible to get was there before him. Dick immediately got up from the small cot, skillfully avoided and maneuvered around the ranting Babs, and left without giving her a moment's concern.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(Mari's point of view)

Mari couldn't help laughing out loud as she went through the scrapbook of Kori's teenage years. She had learned so much about everyone in this household from just looking at the scrapbook. But one thing puzzled her, it made sense that the scrapbook followed her life; but when it got to the point where she was dating her dad, pages were clearly torn out of the book. Mari had always wondered what could've happened to Kori for her to want to tear a part of her life apart. She quickly pushed it aside as she entered the dining hall that she had been interrogated in.

Everyone who occupied the long, dining table consisted of Garfield, Cyborg, Raven, Rose, and Trent. The room acting like a hallway was dead silent; anyone who entered the place would think that someone had died. Something was seriously messed up, especially since Garfield wasn't trying to crack any jokes. Mari awkwardly walked in and took a seat between Trent and Rose. All of them looked like the living dead just sitting there waiting for Alfred to bring in their usual breakfast. Mari felt their dead personalities settle into place around her and placed the scrapbook in front of her on the table. Flipping through the pages, she came onto one specific one that made her smirk out loud breaking the steady silence. Five sets of eyes set on her, turning her pale face blood red. "What's so funny?" Cyborg couldn't help but ask out of curiosity. Mari slightly pushed the scrapbook to Cyborg, who was conveniently sitting across from her. Cyborg's human half of his face lit up and he began to laugh hysterically. It was so funny that tears and oil were coming out of both of his eyes, human and mechanic.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Richard's point of view)

Richard had found himself drawn to the media room and standing dead center in front of the gigantic stereo system. Walking up to it he recalled the key, the one to get him behind. (If you're confused just chill) He lifted one of his fingers and hesitantly pressed the skip, play, stop, and pause buttons in that order. The stereo system started to sink into the ground and uncovered a doorway. Richard slowly walked in remembering that the last time he had been here it had been in his early twenties when the team disbanded. The room was more like a training facility more than anything else, and it contained punching bags, dummies, some hands on weapons, and a floor for combat. The only thing that differentiated between this room and a normal training facility was the fact that it was lined with hundreds of pictures, posters, and news articles of the Teen Titans in Jump city. When the titans first disbanded Dick had gone into a state of denial; even though he would miss his team, he was in more denial than ever since Starfire had left in the dead of night with no trace of her left behind. From that point on, Dick never really was the same. His personality changed and he became more ignorant of what he truly wanted for himself. Richard felt a spark of anger and sadness and felt like beating the crap out of something. He removed his light blazer and white button up shirt to reveal a well-toned body. The first punching bag he found was soon turned into rainfall of shredded remains. Each punching bag he took out, he became angrier and angrier with himself. By the time his seventh punching bag was already dented and out of shape, tears were streaming out of his tightly shut eyes down his face. With a last blow with both of his fists being flung over his head hit the punching bag hard, caused him to slowly wind into a pit of sadness and despair. He opened one of his clutched fists to reveal the picture of him and Star smiling largely without a care in the world. And the one factor that had brought this upon him as he breathed heavily was the daughter he never knew he had…

**Hey everyone we wrote wooooooo but it's 6:26 PM. So much for doing it in 3 hours, anyways, please review and eat cheese cookies!!! Don't do the second part or I will seriously question your sanity. But please REVIEW CAUSE IT MAKES ME HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


	5. Who Bought BB a Camera?

Disclaimer: I don't own the Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Teen Titans, they belong to DC Comics. But I own this story! (MWAH HA HA HA) **awkward **

**But I own Herbert.**

**Special Thanks to:** Carley for helping decide what to work with within the story plot and to all of the people who reviewed **YAY TO ALL OF YA!!**

**Apologies: **_**I'm so sorry about everything!! For me being late and never updating, and that I'm confusing my many chapters that I'm juggling around for 4 different stories and 3 new ones. Again… SORRY!!**_

Stoplight Colored

**Chapter 5: Who Bought BB a Camera?**

Cyborg roared with laughter upon looking at the page in Mari's scrapbook. On it was a display of pictures in a series of shots. The first couple were of Starfire and Robin cuddling and kissing, then the next shot showed Robin looking up at the camera. Followed by an angry Robin with a tattered Beast Boy who eventually ended up on the floor with a broken camera lens (If you didn't understand that, I'll probably be attempting to draw that on my site.)

Garfield had slid out of his seat in curiosity, but soon returned to it looking embarrassed and red instead of his usual green. Cy couldn't help but share this, and slid it down to Rose and Trent. Garfield's own kids began to shake with laughter and almost fell out of their own seats. Even Raven was laughing, not very loudly, but still laughing. Soon, the once dead silent room was filled with joyful laughter and happiness just from Garfield's blunder as a teenager. Then Babs came in…

Her stone dead look clearly showed that she wasn't in the mood for anything "funny" at the moment. Not only did her presence cause everyone to be still and emotionless, but she caused a rain of terror to rush through the souls of everyone at the table from her terrifying look. Everyone, including Raven (gasp,) quieted down except for Mari. She was the only one who looked as if the death glare wasn't going to kill her. Her unnatural, gleaming smile was warm and inviting, unlike Babs' scowl and expression, which could skin you and leave you alive to suffer.

But Babs surprisingly didn't look at Mari with her expression that brought the meaning of "if looks could kill," to a whole new level. It seemed more like she was in deep thought and off in space, rather than down on earth along with all the other sane people of the world. Her face suddenly turned from utter hatred into bitter confusion. Babs' thoughts carried her away as she sat down in her seat at the head of the 50 foot dining table. _'Why is he treating me like this? He just walked out of the room right when I got in. I mean, rude much? Richard didn't even acknowledge my sweet, lively presence, and he just left with that blank expression on his face. It's that Mari's fault. Altering my Richard from his usual, wonderful thoughts of me! What a selfish girl! She must leave before I marry my dear sweetheart…'_

Babs head shot up after feeling the immense stares of the majority of the room. Everyone immediately twisted their heads away from her glare. But Beast Boy snapped his head around too quickly and fell out of his seat after his neck snapped and made a cracking noise. Trent and Rose stared at their dad in his fetal position on the floor; both of them, along with Raven, rolled their eyes up at the ceiling. This wasn't the first time Garfield had embarrassed them like this; he actually repeated many incidents several times similar to this particular one. A single smirk was heard distinctfully between Rose and Trent. It was Mari enjoying the funny moment while it lasted. Even with the constant warning glares issued out to her from Babs couldn't keep her from beginning to break out into infectious laughter. Her laughter was like sweet chimes bringing life to the dreary hall. Then Cy joined her, obviously missing the satisfaction of humiliating and laughing at BB. The laughter was a plague to these few souls who hadn't been infected by this sudden burst of joy, especially with Babs' killjoy attitude.

**Richard's POV**

Richard walked out of his and Babs' bedroom with a fresh new suit on, since his last one was drenched with tears of sadness and now stained. He walked down the hall gloomily; remembering the glory days of the team and Star's joyful laughs and giggles. A thud echoed out after something heavy had fallen from the direction of the dining hall. Just then a laugh rang through the hallways of the vast, empty mansion. This one wasn't like Babs' usually crude, sharp laugh. It sounded more like bell chimes of a clock tower. It sounded like Starfire's. This had to be Mari's. Dick picked up his pace a bit, still casual, but still a little too quick to be calm. Then Cyborg's laugh filled the hallways, followed by the three Logans (Garfield Logan's family.) Garfield must have fallen and been the cause of the loud and abrupt thud. He quickly rounded the corner to the dining hall to find a bitter faced Barbara, a shocked, fetal positioned Beast Boy, laughing friends, and a smiling girl. One who was channeled all of the hatred and distaste from Babs, but just ignored her and continued having fun. Fun. That word wasn't as clear to him in comparison to Mari. Mari, the girl who showed up at his doorstep or backyard, had made him a father in less than two days. It was incredible that he harbored a child this entire time, but didn't even know about it. A child that was now 18, one that was going to college soon. Mari looked up after her spasm of enjoyment had ebbed. She saw Richard and gave him a warm welcoming smile, one that was similar to Star's and not at all close to Babs'.

"Hey…uh…Mr. Grayson?" Mari asked feebly, a tiny bit confused with what to call him.

Dick looked at her for a brief second, "Richard."

"Okay. Then… GOOD MORNING RICHARD!" she almost sang in a singsong tone. Just her voice made him feel elevated into a peak of happiness. A kind he hadn't felt in over 19 years. He took a seat at an angle from Babs right next to Cyborg. Then he noticed the scrapbook. The elevated feeling suddenly disappeared from his mood. That was clear evidence that he wasn't a complete, total part of her life. Physical evidence that he had missed out on a majority of her life. And just as soon as he sat down, Richard jumped up out of the chair and vanished through the arch frame of the hall entrance. He was known for being melodramatic in every situation given or raised at the time. Anger began to build up in his chest at himself and Starfire. Starfire, the angel of his thoughts, dreams, and being. What was he talking about? He was marrying Babs! Why was he marrying Babs? Richard quickly shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had to stay on topic, on the thoughts that had caused him to miss out on another serving of breakfast after that workout. His quick feet and long legs easily carried him to the study near the east wing. This was Richard's sanctuary. His private quarters, where no one would hear or see what he was about to do. Dick couldn't even believe that he was doing this. Slowly and cautiously, he picked up the phone and dialed "0" for the operator.

"Operator," the person on the other line called, seeming bored and all together dead.

"Uh, hi, yes. I'm looking for someone in Steel City by the name of Starfire?" he asked very clearly, making sure not to butcher it.

"I'm sorry sir, no one has seen her in about 20 years. Is there someone else you would prefer to talk to?"

Dick felt like he was just hit in the head with a sledgehammer. Of course she would have used an alibi by now to avoid the press. She for one was lucky that she wasn't famous either way. But he himself was famous as Robin, the Boy Wonder, or Richard Grayson, son of millionaire Bruce Wayne. Just his luck…

"Is there a… Ko-ri An-ders in that area, miss?"

"Hold on one second, hon." And the connection between them was broken and replaced with a different one. The sound was clearly audible.

A light, sweet voice came onto the phone a little confused and slightly hopeful. "Hello?"

Richard was awestruck with how well developed her voice had gotten over the years. And her voice was like a siren call for him to just run down there and wrap her in his arms. The sweet voice began to sound alarmed on the other end when no one answered, "Is anyone there? Who are you? Sorry, but if you're not going to answer I'm hanging up!"

"Star… it's me…"


	6. Eye of the Tiger

Hey guys I'm so sorry for waiting this long to update. And in addition to all of this my computer deleted this chapter so I had to write it again. Also I completely screwed chapter 4 up, so please go back and read the rest of it or this chapter won't make any sense. (It was so ironic how everything fit together without it though)

**Stoplight Colored**

**Chapter 6: Eye of the Tiger**

_**~Kori's Point of View~**_

"Star… it's me…" The strange and familiar voice sounded. How could this person know her superhero name? It couldn't possibly him. He wouldn't have dared to call.

"I'm sorry sir, but no one by that name lives here. Perhaps you have dialed the wrong number by mistake?" Kori looked stressed. If this person would leave it at that, it would make her life a hell of a lot easier.

Silence. Seconds seemed like hours, and hours seemed like years. At last the voice answered. "Star. You know who I am… Please just talk to me." The voice begged on the other line. "Please just a few minutes."

Kori released the intake of air she was holding. She had really been hoping that he would just hang up and leave her alone, but answered him nonetheless. "Tell me you're name."

This person obviously had a lot of time on their hands if they were going to waste her time like this. "If you're not interested in answering me, good-bye then sir…"

"Richard Grayson." The person rushed out through the other line, desperate to hold her attention.

Now that it was obvious that he wanted to talk to her at all costs, she continued. "That's your alias, I want your _superhero _name." It was a short, blunt command. Not too difficult, not too long. It was just short, simple, and sweet. It was definitely him.

He hesitated before answering. "_…Robin."_

"What do you want?" Kori asked in an icy tone.

Richard seemed taken aback at her reaction. "I…wanted to talk to you about…about…about Mari." He finally spit out after stuttering his way through the conversation.

Panic instantly filled Kori's face. "What happened? Is she hurt? Is she in trouble?" The questions did not lessen up as she went on. "Does she need me? What did she do? What did you do? When did this…."

Dick interrupted Kori as he attempted to assure her that nothing was wrong. "No. No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to know something." His voice became weak and broke towards the end. "I just want to talk."

"Spit it out then." Her harshness covering up how truly sad she was.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Pardon?" Same clueless Robin. Always assumes everything.

"Why didn't you tell me that I harbored a child? Why didn't you tell me about Mari?"

Kori was stunned. He actually cared for the random girl who had stood at his doorstep, for all she knew. He had never been a part of Mari's life, and yet, he now carried the tone of an overprotective father. "I didn't think it was important at the time…" Tears slowly began to well up in her eyes. Was she really angry at him? Or was this a whole misunderstanding? She couldn't take this anymore; he was so close, and yet so far away. Kori felt that she needed him close by. She needed to be in his arms with him comforting her. She accidentally let a sob slip.

"Star! Are you okay?" he almost sounded like he cared, but she knew very well from the broadcasts and newspapers that he was marrying another woman he loved 2 days from now.

"I'm so-sorry…" she whispered, trying to hide her quivering voice. "I-I have to go. I'm sorry Robin." Her voice cracked on his name as she began to cry. Kori ended the call and sobbed as she huddled against the side of the wall with the phone to her chest.

**~Over at the Mansion~ (okay guys, this next part won't make any sense unless you go back and read the 4****th**** chapter, I screwed it up and now it's all fixed, sorry…)**

Richard held the phone in his hand for minutes after she had hung up. Had he hurt her? What had just happened? Dick just sat there holding the phone, feeling buried up to his head in guilt. But what was he guilty of? After feeling like a lifeless rock for almost half an hour, he decided to get up and pay another visit back to the training room.

As he rounded the corner to this destination, the doorway was fully revealed, not hidden like it usually was by the gigantic stereo system. Grunts and hits were heard clearer as he stepped closer to the doorway.

Suddenly, a young girl's voice cried out, "Hey no fair! Ouch!" Richard rushed towards the doorway as soon as he realized that it was Mari. Someone was most likely going to get hurt.

Once inside, his eyes weren't working as fast as his ears as he was hit with a powerful roundhouse kick in the jaw. Next thing he knew, he was on the other side of the room rubbing his jaw.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I didn't notice you there! Oh please forgive me! Please tell me your jaw isn't broken!" Mari began to plead apologies to her father as he sat there looking in pain. The kick wasn't one to be messed with, and apparently she had executed it perfectly. There are a series of different roundhouse kicks, and this particular one was only known to a series of people. The move was difficult but for some reason similar to him.

Dick tried hard to reassure her that he was fine. "No. No, I'm fine. I've taken worse." That kick to the face was actually the strongest to his jaw yet. Then, he noticed Bruce.

All pain was forgotten when he saw his adopted father. "You!" He was immediately up on his feet and bounding towards the man. "Are you trying to kill her? Do you know what you could have possibly have done? What are you even doing here?"

Mari spoke up from behind him. "It's my fault." She admitted looking slightly guilty. "I asked if there was a place that I could train for a little bit, and Bruce and Raven took me here. Cyborg was here earlier, and so was BB." She added as if it could make the situation any better.

"What? Raven? How did she know about this place? How did you know about this place?" He questioned his father.

Bruce ignored the question. "You're daughter is very talented and unique. I'd be careful around her. Why don't you train with her until she's done?" He added as he picked up his discarded blazer. And in no time at all, he was gone.

Richard turned back around to face Mari. "What did he mean by unique?"

"Well, um… let's see." She stalled as she took a seat on the mat, signaling for him to join her. "As I think you've assumed by now, I'm a hybrid. You know, half Tameranean and half Earthling. That's partially why I'm more unique than most people. Don't worry, I don't fully expect you to understand." She stated after seeing his confused look.

"So if your part 'Earthling' as you call it, then wouldn't you have super powers like your mother?" Dick inquired.

Mari thought on how to explain this. "I have ever 'super power' Kori has except the 'laser eyes.' I didn't go through the transformation, because of your genes."

Dick looked stressed as lines appeared creased on his forehead. "See, I told you you wouldn't fully understand. Why don't you go help Barbara or something. Isn't your wedding tomorrow?"

"I have all day."

Mari sighed she would have to explain it again. Bruce wanted to know how she was so good at such a young age, and she had to go through the story already once today. "Kori and I decided that I somehow inherited some of you talent. And before you interrupt with another question, let me explain. When I was about three or four, I was able to execute many martial arts and karate moves perfectly, even if I was just joking around. It was thought that I may be a child protégée. But I was too good for not even taking a single lesson from anyone." Richard looked intrigued by her explanation. Mari continued, "Then Kori realized why everything I showed her looked so familiar to her. She had seen you do them when she was still apart of the team. So, she tested how far my ability would go. Every possible move she gave me to try, I did with grace and precision."

Richard opened his mouth about to interject her illogical story, but Mari stopped him. "Before you question how impossible it is, I have a few things for you. You know how Tameraneans can learn any dialect or language instantaneously through lip contact?" Richard nodded. "Well for some reason, that part of Kori somehow copied what you know, your talent, and parts of you personality into me. But whenever I accidentally remind her of you through myself, I hurt her. It's not fun… and I don't want to hurt her anymore. And I know I'm hurting her now by being here…" Mari sighed, she never had really spoken to anyone about this before.

Richard found his arms around her. Now he knew why Star was crying before she hung up. It was all of his fault. It must have been, based off of Mari explanation. Mari looked as if she was on the verge of tears. Quickly, he got up and pulled his daughter along with him onto her feet. "Well, if what you say is true, then let's have a go."

"You serious?" Her face showing obvious disbelief but undeniable happiness in her voice.

"Sure," giving her a reassuring smile as he got into an offensive position.

At the instant okay, she launched herself at him with full force. That was not what he was expecting.

After slamming him into the wall, Mari almost screeched, worrying entirely if she had hurt her father. "Not again! Are you alright?" And just as she asked, Dick sprang up from his former limp position and aimed a series of hits. Each one being blocked by her.

This continued for a couple hours nonstop. The sparring and disappearance of the two had caused a stir of creating a search party. Trent out of all of them seemed particularly worried, and Raven was just having a blast reading his worrisome thoughts. All of the commotion coming from around the house turned into a search and try not to destroy mission. This was causing too much stress for everyone. Trying to get the wedding preparations ready and finding the groom to be.

Around the 3rd hour of their sparring, each one had exhausted themselves but wouldn't cave in. The match began to become so restless and untamed that it breached the concealed door and headed straight for the dining area. Several flips and turns were done flawlessly down the narrow hallways, along with some wall springs and blockings. They were flinging every possible attack at each other; they were even experiencing with new moves, hoping that the other would cave at any moment.

Trent was in one of the shaded corners acting as if he were mourning over something lost. Suddenly, grunts and hits were heard down the hall, coming towards all of them. He wasn't the only one to notice. Raven followed her son's gaze down the hall and stopped helping Barbara for a second. Garfield, now obviously curious by what everyone was looking at, got up from the stack of papers he had been trying to correct for the wedding and looked down the hall. Mari and Richard were now a lot closer than they expected to get to the dining room.

Upon entrance, all eyes were glued to the two, who were still sparring. Apparently, Richard's stubbornness had been passed onto Mari, since neither of the two would quit. Mari couldn't take this anymore, and it was certain that both of them were exhausted.

Mari immediately decided to end this, and realized that she had forgotten entirely about her mom's own inheritance. Catching Richard's arm as he swung a little too carelessly towards her, she flung him across the room. Taking the time and care to not cause him excruciating pain when he landed. Once Dick had landed, Mari was already standing over him with a smirk on her face.

"I win."

Dick crawled up from the miniature crater now embedded, from the force of the attack, into the hard, wood floor. "Not yet," he stubbornly managed through his heavy breathing.

She just looked at her father with a disapproving, intense glare that would wake the supernatural and have them wishing to be sent back to the depths of which they've come from.

Dick stumbled over a bit from the fatigue of constantly sparring. _'Must have her mother's energy,'_ he thought as he saw she was standing perfectly straight as if she were a stone statue. Mari reached out and supported him gently. She hadn't meant to do anything too damaging. Dick spoke out once more, being more stubborn than ever. "Rematch…later." This, he had roughly breathed.

"Are you kidding me?" Mari was laughing hard. Everyone just stared at the two as they had their conversation. "Don't you see? I just now used Kori's side of the family genes. I haven't been using any advantage against you in any which way!"

Richard was impressed and slightly saddened that he had, at last, met his match. "The entire time?"

"Yup."

With papers and glue attached any other way besides neat, Garfield got up from the piles of papers on the floor. "Anyone care to explain what just happened?" He managed a goofy smile to attempt to cover the confusion.

"Dad." Immediately, all pairs of eyes flew to his dark corner, which he was now leaving and entering the light. It was the first time Trent had spoken up in Mari's presence. "They've been sparring for some hours and now just showed up." Chancing a glance at Mari, his eyes roamed around the room to each face. But when he reached her, he paused and stiffened. Due to Raven's genes, he could read minds. It was the only thing he had inherited from the side of dark magic.

Not that it isn't awesome to know what people are always thinking; but it's also a hassle when you can't block them out, like his mom and sister were able to control.

Thoughts flooded towards him. Some knowing what he could do, and decided on asking him questions. Others, like Garfield, were another story.

'_Dude! He's actually getting up the nerve to talk, and it's in front of a cute girl! Uh…one for him I mean… ugh. Why'd I think that?" _Definitely Garfield. Raven shot him a look, apparently she wanted a part of this as well.

'_I wonder if she has some of Star's fighting abilities as well? Starfire. We got off on a bad note. Maybe a should call her again? No. I'd seem desperate. But maybe…' _Richard, suffering from inner turmoil once again.

'This isn't right! How can Richard believe that girl? What proof is there? My wedding is in jeopardy! If she ruins my wedding so help me, I'll…" Barbara. Who else has that much authority and can use it well to their advantage?

'_That's strange…,' _must be Mari, _'he's never spoken to me even once, and now he speaks. That's kind of rude. And under the impression that I'm a controlling freak. Especially since everyone saw me literally through my own father into the ground! I wonder what could he be thinking at this moment?"_ Mari's eyes wandered to Trent, who was staring intently at her. One of her eyebrows shot up, questioning.

Everyone got back to their work, while Richard's future wife was lecturing him. All except for Mari and Trent, who were staring at each other, intently trying to figure the other one out. Finally, Trent moved towards the girl, who herself, was leaning against a wall.

Sticking a hand out formally, he introduced himself, "I'm sorry I haven't had the chance to greet you properly. I'm Trent. Nice to meet you Mari." She cautiously took his hand in hers as she attempted a loose handshake.

"Uh…hi?"

Trent laughed, then a little harder when he noticed the scowl on her face. A human mocking a super powered hero? Not good. One super powered hero against another? All out war. That's when he noticed how cute she really looked with that scowl. _'She seems sweet. Maybe I offended her by laughing. Wow, she looks kinda cute…'_ Trent blushed at his own thought.

"So sorry. I just didn't expect that from you," he explained. "When I first saw you, you came across me as confident and sure of yourself. You're more of a shock to me than everyone is around here. They always have been mimicking each day repeatedly. Now, at last, there's a change." Laughing internally at how he could clearly see how boring his life was getting.

'_Wow. Trent is trying to be hospitable… I wonder what's up. Can he read my mind somehow? Duh, he's Raven's kid. I'm so stupid. Hmm…maybe…" _Mari gleamed a devilish smile at the thought. She wanted something. What could he give her?

"Hey," asking for his full attention, "You've lived around here, this city, for a while right?" Trent nodded, fully anticipating what she was going to throw at him. _'How did she pick up on the entire mind reading scenario? Wait a minute, I can't hear her anymore. She must have some how learned to block off her thoughts from Richard.'_ Trent thought, almost sadly.

Mari leaned in so no one else could here. He mimicked her and did the same. "Do you think you could take me around the city? I don't want to be around here while they're preparing for the wedding." There was a begging sense dripping from her last sentence. Trent looked up at her straight in the face. There was no other emotion but hope and longing sprawled across her face. At first, there was an obvious amount of doubt crossing his mind. _'Would Richard mind if I took out his daughter into the city? Would he try to skin me alive and leave me to rot for Mom to find me and kick his ass?' _Another look at Mari. _'Aw heck, why not?'_

Wordlessly, he held out his pale hand to the girl. Mari took it eagerly and smiled a wide 'thank you' smile at him. Trent looked around at everyone in the room; everyone was busy preparing that they wouldn't notice two stragglers missing. And they ran to the garage for something to ride.

"Car or motorcycle?" Trent looked down at her.

"Doesn't matter…" She answered with a shrug, hopping into the first thing she saw; which just happened to be a silver Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren. _'If she picked this out subconsciously, then I'm impressed by her taste.'_

Trent smiled as he pulled out of the garage and drove down the dirt road towards Herbert, who had already seen them coming and opened the gate. Mari was something, and that definitely was a thrill to any poor souls' dreary life.

**Thanks for reading! Please review! I already have the entire story layout complete, but now I need to write it in words for you to read. For reason though, I lack the motivation to proceed. I'm sorry. Maybe a review…cough…cough…or two…cough…**


	7. Love, Chocolate, and Abandonment

**Special Dedication to: Chellle (the first reviewer to my 6****th**** chapter)**

**Stoplight Colored**

**Chapter 7: Love, Chocolate, and Abandonment**

The day was incredible. Trent had driven Mari all over town introducing to her places that she had only heard about in stories from Kori, on her good days. Things ranging from movies, to lunch at a pizzeria, to having fun and relaxing near the pier were exhilarating for her as she began to see what was so magical for her mother through her own eyes.

It wasn't only Mari who was enjoying the time together. Trent was marveling at how Mari took everything in. It wasn't like being with any other girl. She was different in every way, and it wasn't only the fact that she was a hybrid like him. Mari may have only been with them for a span of a few days, but Trent was falling hard for the girl before him. It seemed more than a crush but less than love.

They lounged lazily at the beach along the warm sand as the sunrise captivated them. The day had been long for the pair, and now it seemed like a perfect way to end the day. Trent plopped down onto his back spraying sand in every which direction. It even got all over Mari. He cringed waiting for the outburst from her. It never came. Instead laughter was granted to his ears. Her head was thrown back and she was just enjoying herself with the last rays of the sun spared just for that moment. And as much as it pained her to leave such a beautiful, everlasting memory, she had to face the facts. Her father, Richard Grayson, was getting married the next day to a woman who would probably kick her out of the house once the papers were signed and official.

"Mari?" She turned her head to the side. Trent was gazing at her intently with a solemn face. She must have accidentally let her thoughts slip.

"I'm sorry, Trent. You weren't supposed to hear that." A look of melancholy slipped onto her face. But the reaction she received was all wrong. His face relaxed from its tense position and calmed her a bit. It was his response that scared her the most though.

He looked at her with understanding. "To be honest, I haven't been able to read your thoughts ever since you deduced the extent of my mind. I realize what you're going through is hard enough on you, not to mention tomorrow's… uh… occasion." A small, sympathetic smile adorn his face.

"Yeah…" Mari sat up, crossed her legs, and stared down at the sand as if it were the answers to all of life's impossible questions. "Hey," Trent's head lifted at the acknowledgment. "Can I ask you something?"

He nodded and replied, "If it's not too complicated…" the answer trailed off.

"Do you honestly think-" she paused, as if still questioning herself whether it would be right to ask something of him. "Do you honestly think my parents ever really cared about each other? I mean, would they ever have the patience even to bear to look at the other's face?"

Mari turned her slightly to take a peek a Trent. But his face was completely blank of anything but contemplation. She sighed and looked out to the sunset, thinking this could be the last day she would probably be welcome within the city limits. Barbara would be sure of that. She could at least say she was thorough with her diplomacy.

"Will I even be welcome back here after the wedding?" she added on in a sigh as the sun was beaming its last of the bright orange and purple.

A hand wiped at her cheek, and she turned to see Trent gently smiling. She hadn't even been aware that she was crying. Mari quickly sat up to compose herself and wiped furiously at her tears.

"Who knows what our own parents were thinking? It's not really something you should bear on your person," his smile grew amused at the prospect of what his own father possibly had been thinking. "And if you're not allowed back here, then I guess there's not really a reason for me to come here anymore, is there?" Mari looked up shocked at him.

The statement was blunt and simple, but it held so much more meaning then what most would think it led on to Mari.

Trent's face then turned beat red, and he shifted slightly away from her. He wasn't one to cope with rejection well. And just as he was about to apologize for being so upfront, Mari closed the trivial gap between them.

She gave him a reassuring smile while entwining her hand with his own. Mari leaned in and placed a small kiss on his cheek.

He gaped at her. This wasn't exactly something he was used to. Mari began to pull at him to follow her as she rose to her feet. "We should probably go back now…" she said to bring him back to reality, while at the same time giving him a flash of appreciation and delight.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The car ride was a quiet, enjoyable time for the two. But was nothing like what was occurring at the manor.

"Where is he?" Raven shrilled as she paced repetitively across the foyer in the main hall. Barbara had just released her after redoing the seating arrangements, over viewing the music selections and service menu, and boosting up her ego by complimenting her dress. Trent had offered to assist in the atrocious chores since her daughter was intelligent enough to find a place to hide and steer clear of the bride-to-be at all costs. But the entire day, had been spent wallowing in the acid of, what is called, Barbara's cave preparing for the following day, _**alone**__. _What ever his excuse would be, it wouldn't even stand a chance against the wrath of his mother alone.

Garfield lay on the floor against the wall on his head, not bothering to set himself up straight. Raven's fury had been so great, that when he greeted her with a little wave, he was flung into the wall once he had captured her attention. No matter how important what ever Trent was doing, he had better pray for a miracle to submerge from the depths of hell to calm the tempest that is his mother.

The shuffling of feet brought attention to Raven's next potential victim. Richard was at the entry of the foyer looking as threatening as Raven was herself. Not only did he suffer from the Barbara's frantic antics, but Mari was too missing.

Richard gave the former green titan a questioning glance in his awkward position before turning to Raven. "Mari's missing. Do you have any idea where she may possibly be at the moment? She disappeared within the beginning of all of the commotion of the planning for the wedding."

"Trent's gone astray I guess you could say. I lost track of him around the same time as well…" Realization crossed her face. "You don't think…"

"Wherever they are, it cannot be Mari's fault. It must be your sons." Richard declared in an arrogant tone.

All of the light bulbs were obliterated overhead. Raven's eye twitched a bit at the accusation of her son. "What are you saying? That my son is the cause of this confusion?" she shrieked at him.

And so the fighting continued on. Every now and then, something would explode around them that Richard would attempt to avoid. Garfield, on the other hand, was afraid to root for the either of the two. Support Richard, and you get thrown sky high. Support Raven, and you would end up being punished to a life of servitude to Barbara as punishment.

The door creaked open slowly and the ringing of laughter came floating in. Mari entered with Trent in tow, each with a big smile on their face. But the effect was immediately reversed once their eyes spotted their parents at each other's throats.

"Uh….hi?" Mari tested cautiously, while trying to keep a safe distance from the sparring parents.

Richard and Raven spun around to find their kids backed up against the door, each holding the other's hand. Their faces were impossible to be used as a tool to find what they were thinking.

Then the questions flooded in. "Where did you go? What did you do? Are you alright? Did anything happen that I should know about?" Neither one took the time to wait for the other to pause for air. Question after question, they continued coming with no hope to an end.

Mari had slumped down to the floor with her head in her hands. A impending headache from their never ending prying needed to come to an end. She was near tears and she couldn't take it anymore. All of the stress aimed directly at her was too much to handle considering the circumstances of certain events.

Her eyes snapped open. A glowing green burst through, leaving no trace of her eyes. Her hands began to follow after. The glowing green increased in brightness and size.

All eyes were diverted to Mari. Even Garfield, who was still positioned awkwardly on the floor, was in awe. Richard and Raven began to distance themselves from the glow with Garfield in tow and surrounded by her black aura. But it was Trent who wouldn't move.

The green glow pierced the eyesight of those in the room to a considerable degree. No longer could one see outside, and no light could penetrate the interior of the foyer. Then, it started. The intense glow slowly launched into a different state. Green was gradually becoming black.

"Mari!" Trent cried as he tried to reach her, however, was pulled back by his mother's dark energy towards herself. "No!" And he was engulfed into a shield of dark energy along with Garfield and Richard.

Mari furiously shook as she lost control…

* * *

**and it's finally here! i told you all i wasn't giving up. so ha! reviews are always welcome!  
**

**Adrienne  
**


	8. Unwanted

**Stoplight Colored**

**Chapter 8: Unwanted**

A massive explosion burst from Mari as she lost the fight for control. The burst of energy destroyed the foyer and threatened to shatter the protective barrier and harm the inhabitants within.

Trent's eyes started to water at the very sight of it all. He couldn't take it.

Once the incident had ceased, Raven let the shield down. And that was when they saw her. Mari was on the floor sprawled in an unnatural position unconscious. Immediately by her side was Trent, who dropped to his knees sobbing. Richard was soon across from Trent, on the opposite side of Mari, checking for signs of injuries or head trauma.

Raven looked down at the sight before her. Never had she seen or experienced such intense energy. Not even when she lost her temper did she cause something as catastrophic as this. Usually, only a light bulb would explode, or even a random object would fly across the room hitting a person or object. But nothing like blowing out an entire room; that was only when she was baking with anger and would tear to shreds anything in a 10-mile radius. And that would rarely occur.

"What's going on?" an impatient and frustrated voice was heard from the hall leading to what was left of the staircase. Barbara appeared at the head of the stairs and stared down at the scene below. "What on earth happened here? This will cause even more difficulties with the wedding plans!" she bellowed, not even stopping to inquire about the state of the unconscious girl.

At this low regard for Mari, Trent glared at Barbara and barked back, "You uncaring she-beast! Mari is hurt and you have no feelings of compassion whatsoever! How you live your life is none of my business; but if it affects the others around you, then I'll fully go ahead and but in!" The fury written across his face was enough to even make Barbara flinch.

She glared at the boy who had challenged her, and then turned to Raven. "Don't you have any control over you children? Rose won't help at all, and this one," she acknowledged Trent, "has no respect for anyone."

Even though Raven was extremely proud of her son for defying Barbara, she did have to control her son. "Trent go to your room for now; just until I come in and talk to you," she called to her husband, who was pushing a pile of rubble out of the way in the form of a gorilla, "Guard Trent's room until I turn up, please." Garfield saluted to her as he turned back to his human form and urged his son forward.

Trent looked back at his mother, stunned that she was even listening to Barbara. Raven returned it with an apologetic look across her face; and added into her thoughts, _'I'm sorry, Trent. But I've had a long day with Barbara hunched over my back. I can't take anymore of her complaining. I'm very proud of you, but we still need to talk about our earlier discussion. Don't even try to leave the mansion. I'll know when you even think about it. And don't give me that look. It's better than having your sister be the guard at the door.'_ Trent winced at the thought of Rose being the temporary preventer. She was not one to give empty threats. He gave one last longing glance towards Mari and trudged to his room with Garfield marching behind him.

"Barbara?" Richard asked for her attention. "Will you leave for a minute please? I have to take care of Mari for the time being and I'd prefer you weren't here at the moment."

Barbara looked distressed by his ignorance towards her. But threw him a, _'we need to talk,'_ look, and left.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

When Mari opened her eyes, her vision first appeared hazy and unclear with a pounding headache to match. She groaned. A quick overview of the room led her to realize that she was back in the room where she was staying. She tried to sit up, but soon was lying down back on the bed from the disarray of her sight. This just couldn't get anymore perfect.

Shouting was soon heard through the door. Barbara and Richard.

"She can't stay here!" Barbara argued toward the groom to be. "That child has already jeopardized my wedding in more than one way!"

Richard was louder. "_That child_," he stressed, "is mine. And she's not going anywhere! She came here for a reason; and I believe it wasn't to be treated like an animal in her own home!"

"This isn't her home! She doesn't even treat it in that way! Look at the foyer! Look at the chaos it has caused! She can't even control herself!" Barbara shrilled in frustration.

"That isn't her fault she can't control her powers! It doesn't come from my side of the genes!"

Mari's face fell at this remark. He was blaming her mother. Did he not care for her anymore? Did he ever? No. He didn't. It was obvious. Richard was marrying Barbara. And if he didn't have enough respect for the woman who gave her life; then, he obviously had no respect for her.

Reaching the side of the bed, she ignored the pains in her head as Mari crossed over to the bureau. The pack was once again tossed aside to the floor and being refilled with the clothes still wearable after the explosion on the day she had arrived.

The arguing continued as she finished packing.

"See!" Barbara pointed out. "You admit it! She doesn't belong here! And you made it fully clear that her mother is no longer apart of what we are now! So leave it at that; and don't make it any worse on the day before our wedding!" She finished, fully proving Mari's assumption. And with that, she opened the window and flew out, just a moment too late to hear Richard defend her.

"Will you stop accusing her for once! You've done nothing but constantly pounce at every moment you get to tear down her self-esteem! Now, she's my daughter, and no matter what you say about her, there's no difference in what that makes her a great person! Heck! She even gets part of her personality from me! So if you decide to tear her down, you are doing the same to myself as well! So, just give it a rest!" Richard boomed, finally snapping from her constant nagging.

He twisted the doorknob leading to her room, but it was already too late. She had gone, leaving the wall length window open, the curtain fluttering in the wind and leaves flying around indicating rain.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Richard grudgingly trudged down the hall. Mari had run away. Why? Of course he knew why. She had heard them fighting over her and she couldn't take it anymore. It was evident. Her clothes were scattered everywhere, and the window was left gaping open.

He was coming up the hallway past Trent's room, where Garfield was standing guard at the door in the form of a bloodhound. He began to whine when he caught view of Richard looking miserable. The spitting image of the time when he found out Starfire had left the team without even a trace of a good-bye. But Richard ignored him and continued trudging. He was going through the exact phase that he had experienced 18 years ago, when the team began to split.

Garfield tensed in his guard position. He turned into a little, green cat with a sad expression across his face, entirely forgetting his guard position in front of his son's door.

Inside the room, Trent was sprawled over his bed awaiting his sentence from his mother. So he was getting punished for not helping out with the wedding? Big whoop. He had spent a day with a magnificent girl and had gotten to know her. He would trade a day's worth of punishment for that any day.

A whine was heard through the door. Garfield. Again.

Thoughts flooded through his head.

'_Why would she leave?'_ Was that Richard? He could actually hear his thoughts? He continued listening intently. _'Mari must have heard us fighting. And now she's gone. It's all my fault.'_

Mari was gone? Where did she go? She couldn't have left, unless something unsettling had happened.

Trent didn't care anymore about obeying his mother. He charged toward the door.

When he arrived, he did nothing but stand, rooted in position in her room. It was obvious that she had departed quickly from the disarray of some of the clothes left behind on the floor. Mari had left. It was evident. And it was Richard's fault.

A dark look crossed his face. _'He's going to regret this.'_

_

* * *

_**I am on a ROLL! Two new chapters! And they're not months apart! The way this is going, you can either expect this story finished by the end of this week or month!**

**You can all give thanks to my crazy, messed up schedule that has placed me in computor class, where I will be typing to my pleasure.**

Please review, I'm dying over here!

**Adrienne  
**


	9. What Exactly is Comfort?

**Stoplight Colored**

**Chapter 9: What exactly is Comfort?**

Mari made her way down the street with her knapsack. She didn't have enough money for a cab ride anywhere, and she was too saddened to actually fly or anything.

Signs of rain swirled around her; she couldn't have chosen a better time to leave the mansion prison.

Her feet were barely carrying her along the pathway when she collapsed to the ground in tears. She had been able to hold them in since her departure from the hell of perpetual sadness. It was their fault she was like this. It was Barbara's, Richard's, and everyone there who was even nice to her faults. She had been deceived into thinking that they even cared. They weren't concerned about her at all; they probably didn't even realize that she was gone. With these thoughts, the tears came ever so much harder as the rain began to fall.

They all were like a huge family. A family clued in on the plot. A plot to get rid of a nuisance that was interrupting a plan already set into motion.

A bright beam of light flashed towards her. The rain and her clouded vision, along with the bright light, deluded her chance of seeing what was before her.

In seconds, a black Harley with deep red set flames across it pulled up beside her; a teenager around her own age was the rider. He wore no helmet, and his sleek, black, leather jacket and torn jeans screamed for Mari to run away. But she couldn't. As much as her senses were telling her to run, she could not find the will to bolt away from the stranger.

He kicked the kickstand down and made his way over to where she was sprawled on the sidewalk. His jet-black hair soaked just as much as her own.

She attempted to make an effort to not look as meek and messed up as she was at the moment. Mari had no intention to let this encounter become a pitiful meeting.

The stranger knelt down beside her a good ways distance so he wouldn't make her uncomfortable; he looked at her straight in the eye. Surprisingly, his golden eyes gave off a hint that he had no intention of harming her in any way that contradicted with his appearance.

"Is there some reason why you're sprawled like that on the sidewalk? Or do just like to hang out in that position here in the rain?" he asked playfully, but still had a concerned feeling to the way he said it. His voice was soothing in a way, and his perfect toned voice just made it all the better.

Mari glared at him. "It's none of your business as to why I'm here at this moment," she snapped back arrogantly.

"So, I'm guessing that you wouldn't like a ride someplace?" he asked, this time being very serious.

"I'm absolutely capable of making my way on my own," she responded defiantly.

She began to make her way through the rain, but slipped onto her back when she reached only a few feet from the stranger.

He approached her once again. "Yeah, I can see that," he mocked, towering over her. He bent down and slung her over his shoulder.

"Put me down! Do you have a death wish?" she shrieked. Her blood was now boiling with frustration and anger.

He chuckled. And before she could do anything about it, he dropped her onto the back of his bike, soon getting on in front of her himself. Before she could protest, the bike accelerated with her holding onto his waist for dear life.

"So are you going to tell me where you want to go? Or are you going to make me take you for a little joy ride, sweetheart?" he yelled over the engine and the sound of the wind speeding by, a smile in his voice.

Mari scowled. "Don't call me that! My name is Mari!" The anger in her voice was clearly audible, even through the harsh noises surrounding them. The rain hit her face hard, and she was not enjoying this. "What's wrong with you? Let me off of this thing!"

"Now what kind of person would I be if I threw you off of this bike right now?" the joking continued. But the bike did begin to slow down.

The accelerated speeds they were traveling at didn't cause much of a fuss. The rain had driven off many of the pedestrians and travelers along the roads and sidewalks. They would be earning no attention this time around.

A bright, red light signaled for them to stop at the four-way intersection, although there were no cars in sight through the rain.

Mari took a brief glance around her to view her surroundings, but keeping wary of the possibility of the stranger in front of her taking off unexpectedly again. The rain began to clear up and made things easier to see. A media store beside her had a series of television screens across the display window. It was showing a news special that made Mari's face drop.

The station was showing an interview with Barbara over the wedding the next day. She looked pleased with herself and was bragging away to the camera crew. Out of the corner Richard had come lugging himself into the half-destroyed foyer. He seemed to be miserable; and when he made it to where Barbara was standing, they did nothing but argue. And soon afterwards, out came a loud cry from the television screen and a large rhino charged at Richard. It couldn't have possibly been Beast Boy. The rhino appeared almost normal, except for the dangerous speed it was traveling at. It had to be Trent! What was he doing?

Panic and worry dissolved all feelings of anger. She had to get to the mansion quickly.

Forgetting all thoughts of leaving town, Mari grasped the forearms of the person in front of her and flipped him over her so he was straddling her instead of the previous.

He blinked a few times, not really understanding what had just happened

Mari slid forward on the bike. "Hold on!" she cried, before the bike was switched into high gear, and they were accelerating through the streets.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Kori couldn't believe what she was seeing.

She had just reconsidered going over to the Grayson's mansion; but after viewing this, she had to go.

She sat their frozen in front of the television screen watching an all out brawl between what appeared to be Richard and a variety of morphing animals.

'_That couldn't be Beast Boy? Could it?'_ The appearance was normal for most animals with no sign of green, but the fighting style was all wrong. The animals were more graceful and had a better fighting pattern than the way Beast Boy had fought on the team. The fighting style mainly resembled Raven's.

Kori snapped out of her trance and flew straight for her room. She began shoving shirts, socks, pants, and anything else she could get her hands on into the duffel bag on her bed.

'_There is no way Richard is getting off the hook this time! Mari could be in serious trouble! Or she may be hurt! He better have a good explanation, or he'll suffer a mother's wrath!" _she worried and thought as she attempted to close up the red duffel bag and flew straight out her window heading towards Jump City.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Trent trudged down the hallway. He couldn't help but be depressed.

Mari was gone. And it was Richard's fault.

His blood began to boil at just thought of Richard. He fell onto his knees and began pounding the floor with his fists, his anger overpowering him.

Anger is one of the worst emotions to experience, especially for the Logans. They have had personal past experiences of the not too pleasant kind. Garfield's anger brought forth the _Beast_, while Raven's unleashed a world of pure misery. And Rose showed anger and rage so often that random objects, and sometimes people, were thrown around in almost any direction. But Trent was another story.

Trent never showed anger; he was always calm under all circumstances. He was practically the peacekeeper in his family, especially with the constant anger and frustration in the atmosphere at the Grayson mansion. And in its entirety, Trent would be the only sane person you could talk to without losing your mind at the moment. But not at this instant.

His knees gave out, and he tumbled onto the floor. Trent began to shake unbearably, losing all of the control he once had. It was always believed that Trent only gained his father's morphing abilities. The only sign he had of his mother's side of the family was his inherited telekinesis. Until, that is, his display on the floor.

A gleam shone past his eyes, completely deluding the last of his focus. His eyes flashed, and the once violet eyes became a dangerous red.

Trent got off of his knees and out of the slumped over position he was previously in and into a crouching position. He leapt forward and a cheetah replaced him in mid-air. The animal ran down the halls at a frightening speed, a speed so fast that it defied the usual pace a normal cheetah would run at.

He was no longer in focus or control. All he could grasp in his mind was the anger and frustration that he felt towards Richard for Mari's absence.

With his hearing peaked, the shrill argument of Richard and Barbara in the foyer grew closer. The sound of his target's voice was enough to pump up the anger and adrenaline. Trent morphed into a rhino, not letting up on the speed he was traveling at.

Barbara screamed once she saw the rhino charging straight for them. Richard scrambled to get out of the way, but the rhino just switched positions. He began to time it out as the danger came speeding towards him. At the last moment, he back flipped into the air, barely avoiding the rhino.

The rhino, even more furious than before, morphed into a kangaroo to meet him at the full height Richard had reached and morphed into a gorilla to smash him down to the ground. Helpless, Richard prepared to take the blow that would certainly be severely painful or even fatal; he was only human with no super natural abilities, just talented and athletic. A surprising thought came to him as he prepared for his end in the short time he had left. But it never came.

Richard hit the floor with a thud, pain shooting up his back. But if he had taken that blow from Trent it would most likely be the end of him entirely. He looked up warily in case Trent came down prepared to attack again. A cry of anguish was heard above, where a series of random animals were shifting out of control trapped within a sphere of dark energy. Richard was already up on his feet and giving Raven a thankful and grateful look over where she was containing her son from the doorway. Garfield stumbled in after her and noticed his son up in the air trapped. Cyborg was just arriving back to the mansion with a truckload of supplies to fix the foyer. Barbara was hiding in the hallway. And the news crew was having a field day with the display of action before them.

Soon, the thrashing ceased. Trent's eyes flashed a brighter more audible red. He slowly lifted his arm up in front of him until it was horizontal in comparison to him with the palm of his hand facing away from him. And the shield keeping him contained vanished.

Raven stared up in shock. "No." It was barely audible to hear, but the shock on her face explained it all. Her son had inherited more than he bargained for. He had inherited the anger that consumed her when she had been his age. For her, anger wasn't an emotion; it was a state of being, and a curse. And now, her son was showing the signs of the madness. Trent's usual state of being calm had hidden any trace of this part of his life. And, this could be the end of them here.

The wind began to pick up speed around him. Leaves and bits of debris were caught up into the wind and a storm replaced the once blue sky. Clouds of gray rolled in, and thunder and lightning danced and sang across the sky. Trent had lost control of the inner demon, and now no one could stop him.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The motorcycle began to whine at the speeds Mari pressed on with the stranger behind her clinging onto her for dear life. They were nearing the mansion at a speed that was unreachable and undetermined by the manufacturers, but she pushed it on even harder.

The weather changed as fast as it had cleared up earlier. The sky took on depressing characteristics as everything around her began to lose its usual gleam and color. Lightning and thunder hit overhead in a constant war for dominance. Rain slapped hard at her face at the intense speed she was daring for. And the wind was picking up so strong that it threatened to send them flying with the bike.

Mari made a sharp turn, almost sliding out because of the slick road. The hands gripping around her waist were pushing into her ribs trying to find something of comfort from the furious pace she was reeling towards. The gates had flung open from the hard wind, and she sped through up the driveway towards the ruined foyer, where a spectacle was being made.

The floating figure in the air grew closer as they neared the entrance of the mansion.

"Hold on!" Mari yelled over the thundering storm and winds as she lifted the bike onto a wheelie and jumped it into the remainder of the foyer.

The bike screeched to a halt as it slid horizontally across the remains of the linoleum floor. Mari's eyes widened when she saw what the figure was. Trent. He was floating up in the air, his eyes glowing a dangerous, fearful shade of red. Beams of dark energy were shooting all across the foyer. Raven was gathering the people together to protect them from her own boy.

The two of them remained unseen due to the storm created around them. No one was going to try and stop him from hurting the others, from destroying the world, from destroying _himself. _Mari took in a deep breath and crawled into an attack position.

"What are you doing?" cried the boy behind her.

She sighed, "Stopping mortal catastrophe." And she took off at top speed heading straight for Trent. Just as she got to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and flew him even higher up into the air, taking him by surprise. She used this advantage, and flipped him to a point where he was delirious and brought her joined hands together down onto him.

Trent came crashing down into the crust of the earth. But he was immediately back up, anger apparent upon his face. He launched several chunks of debris and objects large enough to take her out. The first few were dodged, and then Mari came crashing down straight towards the surface.

Trent's fury didn't end there. She was thrown and battered up to a point where she couldn't find any hope left in stopping his rage. Mari crawled up onto her feet staring up at Trent, who appeared to be preparing for once last final blow. There was no trace of him left on his face, only the pure anger and hatred was apparent. This wasn't Trent. And he needed to realize that for himself as well. He needed a wake up call back to earth.

Mari, trying to find some inner strength left within her, launched straight towards him again. This time though, she was glad he knew she was coming. It was only to her advantage.

She met him at equal height. They did nothing but stare for a short while. Then Trent lifted up his arm once again, prepared to attack. But Mari was ready this time.

Mari lunged forward at him and yanked his arm away harshly. A sickening crack was heard, and Trent double-over in pain. She ignored it and grabbed his face hoping with all she could conjure up that it would work. That it would snap him out of this trance.

Her hands brought his face closer to her own. Her eyes automatically shut as she pressed her lips to Trent's.

* * *

**Hey guys…. Are you going to kill me now? I know I haven't updated in a while. But give me a break; I go to a magnet school. And they just let me out! I'll be gone for a while so I won't have very much time to write or update anything. I'm sorry! I really am! This story WILL be finished by the end of the summer. I know that much at this time. As for my other stories, only time will tell.**

**Thanks for being faithful,**

**Adrienne**


End file.
